Academic Master

Sociology

Do you think that social media had more positive or negative impacts on the way people communicate (on other and the other society)?

In the modern and global world today, technological advancements have changed the pattern of lives. The usage of the internet and its availability provided methods the people to communicate with anyone across the globe. Now it is not difficult to make connections with people one does not know, and now it is effortless to communicate with anyone in the world. One of the great revolutions of the internet is social media that is allowing people to communicate with the world and share pictures, information, knowledge, videos, personal stories, and many more. Social media is now spread all over the world in the form of different apps including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and many more. These apps provide the options to make friends with anyone around the world, share any information, share life stories, share daily routine activities, share knowledge, and share pictures with each other. All these inventions revolutionized the world and impacted the lives of people positively as well as negatively. Social media had more negative impacts on the way people communicate with each other such as reduced face-to-face interaction, bullying easily, worst language skills, and having more relationships online rather than to have them face to face interaction.

In an article, My Facebook, Myself a writer named Jessica Helfand explored the dangers contains the usage of Facebook. She argued that it is now effortless to post pictures online and show the world your daily routine. People allow other people to have a look at their personal lives by posting their daily feeds online through Facebook. Helfand explained that Facebook is most famous among teenagers and it is running their lives. Teenagers today want to post their daily feed online, even share pictures of their lunch or dinner so that their friends could know about the fact that what they had taken as their lunch or dinner. They are more interested in the usage of Facebook than to focus on their academic studies. When one person posts a picture, he starts waiting for the people who like it and who comment on it.

In the waiting process, one checks the cell phone several times just to see who is linking the picture or commenting on it. It made a person conscious and nervous to check the phone over and over again. In this process, if some friends make comments on a photo, then the individual starts to reply to the comments and this process goes on. People who are using social media prefer to have friends online rather than in real life because they are too busy and engage with their online community that is not available for face-to-face interaction. Facebook is no doubt providing an opportunity to make friends online and share lives with them, but it also impacts negatively on the lives of people who deliberately reduce their face-to-face interaction with real-life friends and family members.

In an article, The Documented Life, an author, named Sherry Turkle explained the communication pattern developed by the increased usage of social media. Now the ones who are seriously involved in the usage of social media do not care about their real-life relationships, and either do not have time for them. The usage of social media developed a sense that promotes online community engagement rather have face to face interactions. Even when some friends meet for lunch or dinner, they seem to engage in their cell phones rather than have fruitful conversations with each other.

The author noticed that it is now prevalent that most people in restaurants are engaged with their phones, and people surrounding them need their attention they say, “Sorry, what?” Moreover, Turkle argued that people are much busy to have their relationships online rather than focus on their real-life relationships. Children complain about their parent’s behavior when they meet with them at lunch and dinner tables, but they are too busy with their online search that they have no attention to pay to their children’s talk. A girl complained that she needs the attention of her father, especially at the dinner table, but she does not have it because his father is busy with the usage of Facebook. A 14-year-old girl tells me how she gets her device-smitten father to engage with her during dinner: “Dad, stop Googling. I don’t care about the right answer” (Turkle, 2013). It shows that people are more involved in their online relationships rather than their real-life relationships and face-to-face interaction with them.

On one side social media provided free access to the world and communication with people around the globe, and on the other side, it is providing an opportunity to free speech that is leading to the pattern of online bullying. Social media is spreading the pattern of online bullying that is creating so many issues in the societies such as depression, tension, mental disturbances, and mental disorders. The pattern of online bullying leads to distress and a sense of insecurity. One could easily abuse other people with easy access to social media that creating tension and distress among the people who became the target of bullying. The online community of social media is also spreading the pattern of worst language skills as people start their conversation by writing short words to save time, which leads to spelling and grammar mistakes. These mistakes became a consistent part of the individuals who use short words and sentences and impact negatively their communication writing skills.

In an article, My Selfie, My Self, author Jenna Wortham explored the current patterns of selfie measures that are adopted by the users of the social media world today. The author tried to depict the good aspects of the selfie pattern that is based on the fact that online postings of selfies are a kind of visual diary. However, this thought could be a better one, but overall the selfie pattern is spreading negativity throughout social media. People are more attracted to their visual representation rather consider their real-life personalities. Different cameras and effects make any person looks great in a selfie, but in reality, the person is not the one that is represented in the selfie. This could lead to dissatisfaction measures, and most people consider their selfie images true enough to consider their real personalities. It makes the people vulnerable who are not accepting their real-life personalities and make their selfies look good and get several good responses from the online community by posting the selfies online.

In the end, social media had more negative impacts on the way people communicate with each other such as reduced face-to-face interaction, bullying easily, worst language skills, and having more relationships online rather than to have them face to face interaction. These aspects and factors are more important rather than considering several benefits and advantages of social media. The communication pattern of the world is disturbed by the increased usage of social media and consistently growing with the passage of time. Teens are adults the most users of social media, who are focused on their social life rather give importance to their real-life patterns.

References

Helfand, J. (2011). My Facebook, My self. Nataliaky.blogspot.com. Retrieved 20 April 2018, from http://nataliaky.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-facebook-my-self.html

Turkle, S. (2013). The Documented Life. NYTimes.com. Retrieved 20 April 2018, from https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/16/opinion/the-documented-life.html

Wortham, J. (2013). My Selfie, Myself. Nytimes.com. Retrieved 20 April 2018, from https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/20/sunday-review/my-selfie-myself.html

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